The Toy Box: Laura Branigan

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Retro Spins: Laura Branigan - Touch

Alright, Laura Braniga. You have one more shot at making me a super fan. Make it happen...Or don't. Admittedly, the first thing I read about her 1987 entry, Touch, didn't set high expectations. It basically said that the album offered, "more ballads than usual." Ugh...

Basically, Touch is touted as Branigan's unsuccessful attempt to enter the adult contemporary world, leaving behind her previous pop roots. Though critics praised her vocals, and stated she had the range to certainly make the transition, overall, the album just wasn't the vehicle that was going to drive it.

Okay, so with expectations set way low, and a grueling sense of the ballads to come, let's get this one over and done with.

Despite being a ballad, and I say again, who opens an album with that kind of tune, Over Love isn't terrible. However, it's follow up, Shadow Of Love, didn't work for me. It was so slow, and way too long. I actually ended up skipping it midway.

Branigan flexes her sticky fingers to once again produce a cover heavy album, borrowing liberally from other artists. These include Jennifer Rush's Power Of Love, Ellie Warren's Shattered Glass, Hazell Dean's Whatever I Do, and Shirley Ellis's The Name Game. Most of these covers are done little to no justice in her hands. While Power Of Love is serviceable, in retrospect, Celine Dion's version is far superior. Whatever I Do was also okay in sections. I'm not a fan of the chorus, particularly how it sounds, but the rest of it was okay.

I'm not going to deny that Laura doesn't have a good voice. I just wish she had the songs to emphasize this. For example, Spirit Of Love, gives her the opportunity to provide a poppy track, which flexes her range from whispers to screaming, and everything in between. It's cut midway with a crunchy guitar solo, rounding out a great tune. She needs more like this.

At the end of the day, my goal was to complete my journey through Laura Branigan's 80's albums, and I've accomplished that. Did I come away a fan? No more than I was before. I like a handful of her songs, and I'm good with that. It is disappointing to find out that she was nothing more than a glorified cover artist, but I suppose if that's what it is, there's nothing more to be done about it.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
November 7, 1981

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
November 7, 1987

Retro Spins: Laura Branigan - Hold Me

Here we go again, continuing the journey through the Queen of Liberal Borrowing of Other People's Material. I'm talking about Laura Branigan, the industry mouthpiece for other people's hard work, or cover artist. It appears that the rest of the world caught on at this point, and as a result, her sales quickly dipped out. The once platinum selling (clearing throat) "artist", was now not even selling enough albums to be certified at all.

I'm kind of annoyed that I have all of Branigan's albums from the 80's. Mainly because this expensive adventure hasn't paid off. I'm kind of annoyed that I'm subjecting myself to her music. Maybe this is because I'm just overly worked up about it, or maybe it's valid, and the juice just hasn't been worth the squeeze. Whatever the reason, I'm begrudgingly jumping into her 1985 released, Hold Me.

While out of the gate I wasn't impressed, my self contained rage slowly dissipated by track two, Maybe Tonight. It was a solid toe tapper. Ironic because of the first side of the album, it's the only one that wasn't released as a single.

Taking a leapfrog over the bland, and aptly titled, Foolish Lullaby, we then come to the tune which I bought the album for, Spanish Eddie. It's unfortunately after this great tune that we come to her cover of Alphaville's Forever Young. She does her best, I suppose, but it's just inferior to the original vocals of Marian Gold.

Branigan returns to the Michael Bolton well to record I Found Someone. Much like his prior song, How Am I Supposed To Live Without You, she does a serviceable job. However, the definitive rendition award goes to Cher for her self titled 1987 comeback album.

Overall, it was an okay album, but nothing to write home about, nor get excited for. I've got one more album from her to listen to, and candidly, I'm not necessarily chomping at the bit to do so. I'll definitely get to it though.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
November 6, 1982

Retro Spins: Laura Branigan - Branigan 2

Today I'm returning to yet another one of those common stories in my album collecting history. It's the classic tale of one day getting a bug up my butt, and needing to have an entire 80's discography from an artist who I knew, but didn't necessarily know beyond the hits. Such is the case with Laura Branigan, an adventure that was quite pricy, and so far hasn't paid off. I initially listened to her debut in 2019, and being a bit disappointed beyond the smash Gloria, I went on to listen to Self Control in 2022. It fared better.

Then I took a long hiatus from her, which if you're putting the pieces together, is where I pick up today, finally getting around to her 1983 Branigan 2. I admittedly didn't have many expectations.

Everything starts off fine with Solitaire, which is the tune I bought the album for. However, from there, it goes into an absolutely horrible rendition of Der Kommisar, and I use "rendition" lightly. Branigan's team has taken the music, changed all the words, and crafted an absolutely ridiculous song out of it. It's awful!

A couple songs later, we come to yet another awful cover of Squeeze Box. Branigan's taken a classic Who track, and put a country twang to it. This not only doesn't work for the track, but feels out of place in the otherwise pop record.

Branigan then tries her hand at the Michael Bolton and Doug James penned, How Am I Supposed To Live Without You. To her credit, she was the first to record it, and it's serviceable. However, in retrospect, Bolton's 1989 version is far superior.

Herein lies my biggest problem with the performer. She doesn't have anything noteworthy in her catalog that isn't someone else's material. She literally wrote nothing, and just served as a mouthpiece, either having music written directly for her, or taking someone else's songs, and producing cover versions. It's kind of lazy.

With that said, there were a couple songs which stood out on the whole thing. I'm Not The Only One was a somewhat funky disco hit. Again, out of place for a pop album, but at least this time, okay. Mama was also a pretty good cut. The final track, Don't Show Your Love was okay, but kind of only in a better than the worst way.

Overall, Laura Branigan is kind of a take it or leave it artist for me, and I use the term artist with hesitance in light of the fact that she doesn't actually do anything other than sing other people's material. Maybe I'm being harsh, overly critical, and just a jerk, but I don't feel like she really earned or deserved her fame.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
November 5, 1983

Retro Spins: Laura Branigan - Self Control

My first attempt at Laura Branigan left me very disappointed. Her debut album was expensive and beyond the hit Gloria offered nothing for me. Hopefully, this will change as I continue through her discography in today's Retro Spin.

It's a solid tie between Gloria and Self Control as my all time favorite songs from Branigan, and as it were, the latter of those tracks just so happens to be on today's particular album. Of course, that would make sense considering I'm listening a record with the same name, 1984's Self Control from Laura Branigan.

Everything starts off on a high note with The Lucky One. This song struck notes with me as sounding more so like something Meat Loaf would have sang. It may have been why I dug it all the more. Self Control followed, only solidifying a high expectation for the album.

I recognized Ti Amo as one of Branigan's hits, but quite frankly it's not a song I'm all that excited about. It's okay, but definitely not a powerhouse. Heart also wasn't bad. It was pretty jammin' and had a pretty good tempo to it. Definitely a toe tapper.

The singer provides a "pretty" rendition of Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, a song originally made popular in 1961 by The Shirelles as, Will You Love Me Tomorrow. However, it doesn't do the original version any justice. Further, while I know the song's been remade numerous times over the years, you really can't improve on the original. It's a classic.

The last single from the album, Satisfaction, was pretty much the last thing I knew from Self Control. It was never one of my favorites, but it's poppy and fits in with the album's layout. As for the remaining tracks, Silent Partners, Breaking Out, Take Me and With Every Beat Of My Heart, they're nothing special. They feel like filler.

Overall, Self Control was better than Laura Branigan's debut album. Still, the singer isn't pushing me over the edge like I was hoping. I was really wanting to find the next best thing I missed from the 80's, and I'm just not finding that with her. It's really disappointing, and I have to say a lot of this letdown is driven by how expensive her CD's have become.

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Retro Spins: Laura Branigan - Branigan

Laura Branigan
Branigan
1982

Well....Crap. This wasn't supposed to happen. I recently was listening to a greatest hits of Laura Branigan and found myself saying, "This is really good! I need to hunt down her studio albums from the 80's." This was an expensive undertaking as several of her albums are a little scarce which makes them a bit expensive. I'm talking as much as $50.00 expensive for one in particular.

I ordered all five of her albums from the 80's and specifically waited until I had them all in hand so I could listen to them in order; Branigan (1982), Branagin 2 (1983), Self Control (1984), Hold Me (1985) and Touch (1987). With the picture laid out, let me go into the details.

I haven't listened to all five of the albums noted above just yet, just Branigan from 1982. However, it was awful! Where are the quality of songs from the greatest hits album I heard? Gloria was the only saving grace of the entire thing and heck, I already had that one from the aforementioned compilation.

The album starts out on a massive lull with what would become the first chart topper from the album (for a single week at number 96) and one of the most boring songs I've ever heard in my life, All Night with Me. It follows that up with Gloria and it was at this point in time that I said to myself, "Okay, it's going to get better from here." I then re-braced myself for an album that was going to blow me away. I could accept that one out of nine was a dud. That's not a terrible average.

Sigh... What I instead ended up with was one out of nine being good....Gloria. I was so disappointed. Disappointed to the point that my desire to listen to the other four albums was immediately swept under the rug. Sure, I'll get around to it, but they're no longer a top priority for me.

I suppose in the long run I shouldn't be overly shocked. The only track which really managed to move on the charts was Gloria. The song went to the number two spot by November of 1982 and stayed there for three consecutive weeks before very slowly falling off the charts over the course of the next three months. With the exception of the above noted All Night with Me, there were no other hits from the album.

Maybe I shouldn't be so bummed out in light of that. Clearly things have to get better. After all, the two above noted tracks are the only ones from the album which made their way to the greatest hits album. Perhaps the best is yet to come.

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